Thompson Aircraft Refueller

Sat outside on my very wet and windy visit to Brooklands over two years ago was this 1937 Thompson Brothers 'Mobile Refuelling Unit Mk III', driven by the two rear wheels with a capacity of 500 gallons of petrol and oil, although i'm not sure if this is two seperate compartments or one or the other - I presume the former seeming as aircraft need both at the same time!

The Thompson Brothers went on to improve the design and this later type was widely used by the Royal Air Force - examples of the Second World War type, known as the Thompson P505, are preserved at the RAF Museum Hendon, Imperial War Museum Duxford and the South Yorkshire Aircraft Museum, Doncaster. For a photograph of the Thompson P505 at IWM Duxford, click here

If you'd like a 1/72 scale model of the Thompson P505, although known as the TB3 on the website, click here

According to 'The Observer's Army Vehicles Directory to 1940' by Bart H Vanderveen, the Thompson Aircraft Refueller was first introduced in 1935 and used at the Royal Air Force Training College at Desford, Leicestershire